Japanese musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has passed away

Japanese film composer, musician, actor and producer Ryuichi Sakamoto (“The Last Emperor”, “The Revenant – The Returner”) passed away last Tuesday, his office announced on Sunday. The music genius turned 71 years old. Sakamoto suffered from cancer. It was said that he was already buried with his closest relatives. The exact cause of death was initially unknown.

Sakamoto has crossed countless musical and cultural boundaries throughout his pioneering career. He won several awards, including the Oscar for the film score of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor” with Talking Heads frontman David Byrne in 1988. In the war film “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983), for which he also composed the film score , he also played a leading role alongside David Bowie.

Well-known composer for film and television

As bandleader of the Yellow Magic Orchestra, once considered one of the “Kings of Techno” together with the German band Kraftwerk, he laid the foundations for synthpop, electro and techno in the 1970s and early 1980s. His fusion of pop, classical and global rhythms and his experimental works also earned him a high reputation and inspired many artists.

Born near Tokyo on January 17, 1952, the son of a publisher and a hat designer, Sakamoto has worked with many important artists over the course of his long career, including Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and David Sylvian. as representatives of ambient and glitch, a subgenre of electronic and experimental music, like Fennesz. He also composed music for films, television series and video games.

In 2014, Sakamoto was diagnosed with throat cancer. After the cancer initially seemed defeated, his doctors diagnosed rectal cancer in 2021. Sakamoto had to undergo surgery to remove the cancer that had spread to both lungs. (sda/dpa)